§ SIR F. BANBURY (City of London)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether his attention has been called to the case of a Post Office contractor named Boon, who was convicted at Peterborough, on 4th March, of cruelty to a horse employed to draw three quarters of P ton of electric wires belonging to the Post Office up a hill; whether he is aware that Boon admitted that the horse was a shiverer, and that since he had beeen summoned he had sold it to a man named Peacock, who 1758 was convicted on the same day at the same court for cruelty to a worn out horse, for £3; and what steps he proposes to take to prevent the use of such horses by Post Office contractors.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONBoon was not a Post Office contractor in any ordinary sense of the word. He was employed to cart a load of wire, and gave instructions on the subject to one of his men. This man disregarded Boon's instructions to go by the longer route to avoid the hill and took the shorter and steeper of two routes. The man was fined for cruelty; but the case against Boon was dismissed. If cruelty to horses were proved against a Post Office contractor I should no hesitate to take action in the matter.